Saturday, March 31, 2012

This is a Picasso Jasper heart that I have wire wrapped with fine silver and sterling silver. I have added a small Ruby bead to it. The stone got a bit scratched while wrapping....and I read later that this stone is very delicate and soft, and can get damaged easily. Next time I'll be more careful. It took me a long time to make this, because the stone and the wires were not in any mood to cooperate with each other. However, I do think it turned out nice. After taking pictures I can see that I need to file the wire ends on the curls more...and I'll do that before listing it on my Artfire store.

Continuing with my stint with metalsmithing, I decided to use a sterling patterned wire I had bought eons back. And created this bezel setting for an Amethyst cab. Then I antiqued it with LOS to bring out the pattern, and tumbled polished it for hours to get a high shine. This is a US size 9 ring. I love the ring. And because I have not made such a thing forever, no one in my family believed I had made it....they thought I bought it. LOL!!

Wednesday, March 21, 2012

This is a size 5 ring. The main shank is made of 18 gauge sterling silver. It is 1/2" wide. The words stamped on it are, "love and angel blessings". It has 3 spinners on top on it. Two are sterling silver 16 gauge, and one is 14K gold-filled 14 gauge.

I hadn't done silversmithing for a while, and really enjoyed making this! There is going to be a few spinner rings even after this, and a couple of bezel set rings.

Tuesday, March 13, 2012

Its been several weeks since I made a complete jewelry piece. I have been working on one rather slowly. There is just so much to do, so much running around with two kids, then a long round of sickness for the entire family...I couldn't do much.

And then came a sweet message from my friend Mary of The Angsty Artist, who inspires me so much with her own work. She said that she knows I am trying to do YOJ this year, and that she noticed I hadn't made anything from the past several weeks. And she said that even if I am very busy, sometimes its just OK to make a really simple pair of earrings and call it a day. She added, that I could call it Mrs. Nigam Earrings or the Dumb Earrings of Mercy. LOLOLOL!!! I liked the name "Dumb Earrings of Mercy", but because I made these yesterday for me (it went well with what I was wearing), I named them "Mrs. Nigam Earrings". Then I wore to my son's Tae Kwon Do class, and guess what? These earrings were noticed and called "sweet". Sometimes the simplest of things catch people's eye. I wanted to make these because my cousin Ruchi had made a pair like this with Amethyst for her SIL. And I had loved them.

These are made with Sterling silver, fine silver, and Swarovski pearls.

So thank you Mary for inspiring me again, and getting me back on track. I mean..I still haven't caught up, but I will with simpler pieces, and with an order I need to complete.